Countess of Chester Country Park celebrates its 10th anniversary

The Countess of Chester Country Park is celebrating ten years since its official opening to the public in September 2014. The 29-hectare former landfill country park has been transformed over the last ten years into a wildlife-rich green space that forms an integral part of the local community of Chester.

On Thursday, 12 September, special guest Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire and CEO of Chester Zoo, Jamie Christon, partners, volunteers, and friends, came together to celebrate the park’s achievements, raise the Green Flag Award flag, and explore the site.

The country park is a thriving green space with a mixture of woodland, grassland, and wetland areas. It is managed by the Conservation Volunteers (TCV) in partnership with the joint landowners, the NHS Trusts and the Land Trust, a green space management charity. The team works closely with the Friends of Countess of Chester Country Park volunteer group, established eight years ago.

Since the Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Consort, opened the site in 2014, the team has developed numerous projects and partnerships to enhance and develop it. These include working with Life for Life, a charity that plants memorial trees in memory of loved ones, and Chester Zoo through the Wildlife Connections programme and Nature Recovery Corridor project.

TCV has provided ongoing opportunities for community engagement through weekly Green Gym volunteering sessions. These sessions help maintain the site for visitors and wildlife but also allow volunteers to develop new skills, enhance their physical and mental well-being, and meet new people.

Working alongside TCV and the Land Trust, the committed Friends of Countess of Chester Country Park group has undertaken various projects that have positively impacted the community and the local wildlife. The Friendly Bench, a Fallen for the Fallen WW1 Memorial Trail and a Rubbing Plaques Trail, to name a few, have become key parts of the site for visitors to engage with, alongside many regular community activities.

The most recent addition to the site, organised by the Friends of group, is artist Nicky Thompson’s Cheshire’s Wonderful Wildlife art trail. This trail showcases 12 beautiful wildlife illustrations inspired by British Transport posters, dotted around the park for visitors to explore. The trail will soon include an activity trail with a worksheet for visitors to enjoy by picking up a leaflet or scanning a QR code.

Andy Scargill from the Friends of Countess of Chester Country Park group said: “We are proud that over the years we have slowly helped the country park evolve with a focus on making it a better community experience and a site that now has a much-improved level of biodiversity.

“We are also really pleased that the country park is now a destination for so many people and has become a much-loved part of Chester.”

The Land Trust’s Head of Estates North, Sarah Palgrave-Neath, said: “It was great to come together to celebrate and mark the ten-year anniversary of The Countess of Chester Country Park, which has become a key part of the local community of Chester.

“The site’s success is a testament to the dedication of the partners and volunteers involved, allowing for us to deliver significant charitable delivery across all of the Land Trust’s five charitable objectives.”